The Red Sox have selected White Sox bullpen coach Juan Nieves to become their next pitching coach.

Jon Heyman of CBS Sports had the news first. The news is a bit of a surprise given an ESPN report that Baltimore minor league pitching director Rick Peterson was the favorite.

The Red Sox also considered Marlins pitching coach Randy St. Claire and Royals executive Steve Foster, a former bullpen coach.

Nieves, 47, spent five years in Chicago working under respected pitching coach Don Cooper. He was a pitching coach in the White Sox system for the nine years prior to that. He also spent four years coaching in the Yankees organization.

Nieves graduated from Avon Old Farms in Connecticut before pitching parts of three seasons in the majors.

big surprise! don't know anything about this guy but i wish him luck. hopefully he meshes with the pitchers well and knows his stuff. can correct faulty mechanics.. he sure has his work cut out for him

It is getting like football , where they have almost as many coaches as they do players. What is next , a quality control for fielding coach ? Or an assistant bench coach ? Or a bunting coordinator ? Bottom line is : The players have to be receptive to the coaches ideas. Otherwise it is just window dressing and unnecessary overhead on the payroll.